Originally Posted by
stefan s
I appreciate the input! The fork appears to read "TANGE" , "MADE JAPAN" and "1G". I uploaded some more photos to
the album which show this. I don't know what "rifling at the base" means but it doesn't look like there is anything special going on down there.
That the fork is stamped "Tange" only means that Tange brazed it. The rifling in the steer tube looks like this, and is visible where the tube ends at the fork crown:
Columbus steer tubes also have a dove stamped on them, although this is lost sometimes when the tube is trimmed before brazing:
Tange "Champion" and "Prestige" steer tubes also have rifling, but they will have 6 ribs rather than 5. Ishiwata steer tubes have 5 straight (not helical) ribs.